Books: Poor Tom

Tho men once sat in the Ivy Restaurant in London. One was a young
composer who, after a long, long pull, was on the topside of his hour;
the other was Thomas Burke, onetime Hardcress Kid, now famed author
of Limehouse Nights. While they ate, they telegraphed to each other in
a code made up of the names of street corners, taverns, dives, the memories
of tattered times. In this book, Mr. Burke writes, for those whom good luck
has left happily unfamiliar with that code, the record...